About This PhD Project

Project Description

This is a collaborative research project between Innventia in Sweden, Stockholm and QMUL, School of Engineering and Materials Science. Inventia is a research and development company in Sweden that works with innovations based on forest raw materials. With decades of research and development experience, Innventia has developed resource-efficient processes and products using renewable raw materials. One of the latest programs in R&D coming from Innventia, is the production of carbon fibres from Kraft Lignin, a side product in the paper and pulping industry. These carbon fibres can be produced via various methods such as electrospinning and melt spinning. The structure of the initial lignin precursor nicely correlates with the resulting properties of the carbon fibres such as mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, etc.

The idea of this collaborative project will be to use the carbon fibre samples from Innventia at QMUL, in the research group of Prof. Titirici as a flexible and conductive substrate to manufacture flexible supercapacitors. Flexible energy storage devices are attracting increasing attention as they show unique advantages such as flexibility, shape diversity, light weight enabling applications in portable, flexible and even wearable devices including soft electronic products, roll-up displays and wearable devices.

The PhD candidate will work in a multidisciplinary project involving synthesis on carbon nanomaterials based on the modification of lignin carbon fibers, structural characterisation using electron microscopy, XPS, XRD, Raman, etc and electrochemical characterisation using techniques such as Cycling Voltametry or Impedance Spectroscopy. Finally, assembly and manufacturing of real devices in expected towards the end of the project along with their performance evaluation as flexible supercapacitors.

Research Group: Functional Nanomaterials

QMUL Research Studentship Details: ◦Available to Home/EU/International Applicants ◦Full Time programme only ◦Applicants required to start in September/October 2016. ◦The studentship arrangement will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend (£16,057 in 2015/16) for up to three years. ◦The minimum requirement for this studentship opportunity is a good Honours degree (minimum 2(i) honours or equivalent) or MSc/MRes in a relevant discipline. ◦International applicants should refer to the following website at http://www.qmul.ac.uk/international/index.html ◦If English is not your first language then you will require a valid English certificate equivalent to IELTS 6.5+ overall with a minimum score of 5.5 in all sections (Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking).